


The Blighted Blood

by The_Exile



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles
Genre: Community: ladiesbingo, Enemies to Friends, Epilogue: Xenoblade Chronicles Future Connected Spoilers, Gen, Late Game, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:48:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27232282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Exile/pseuds/The_Exile
Summary: Giving over the mask to Melia was not easy.
Relationships: Melia Ancient | Melia Antiqua & Talco | Tyrea
Kudos: 10
Collections: Ladies Bingo 2020





	The Blighted Blood

**Author's Note:**

> for Ladiesbingo fill '6.4 Enemies'

Handing her old Bionite Order mask over to Melia was not easy. Not only was she finally discarding a part of herself - a role that had not been anything to do with her life for many years now but still something that she had done for so long now that it felt like an essential aspect of her identity - she was surrendering it to the enemy.

No, she shook her head, Melia was not her enemy any more, maybe had never really been. Melia was Tyrea's ally in this coming battle, the Empress of her people and maybe even something close to a sister. 

Her strict conditioning kicked in as she formed the thought, filling her with revulsion, anger and hatred, that she should lower herself to the status of a filthy half-breed when she was an agent of the highest order in the hidden organisation that would bring back High Entian royal purity. 

With the same iron will that kept her still and silent during longer assassination missions, she gritted her teeth, growled and forced herself to weather the initial tide of emotion and impulse to kill. It had been a long time since her conditioning had been reinforced - her mother and her superior in the organisation was long gone in the disaster that had changed the lives of every surviving High Entia - and, as she reminded herself again, she now had hard evidence that the statements used in her conditioning were not true. 

Reflecting on this knowledge brought a second wave of revulsion, this time a deep shame at herself, her very existence. That she hadn't succumbed to the same fate as the other purebreed High Entia, mutating into a Telethia as a long dormant gene in her entire race was activated all at once, had only one logical explanation: she was, herself, a half-breed. Her father was not who she thought it was. 

Shaking off the urge to punish herself was more difficult than not lashing out at her sister. Purity was never expected in Melia, who was a disgrace to the throne and an impostor, but Tyrea was supposed to be the perfect Bionite agent in every way. She even had fully grown head-wings, a trait exceptionally rare in half-breeds. Besides, it was so easy to throw herself in harm's way, to heroically sacrifice herself in the next major Fog Beast incursion, driving the corrupted monsters away from the civilian areas. In the chaos of battle, she could make it look like an accident. Disgustingly, she'd even be praised.

No, she sharply berated herself. You have an actual important job to do now. If you die before you're sure everyone is safe, innocents might be killed next, without you to defend them. Besides, your sister would be heartbroken. 

Melia actually cared about her. Even after Tyrea's many attempts on her life, Melia did not seek revenge, only asking for her to repay her debts by joining the fight and taking it seriously this time. This stung somehow, shamed her even more. 

She could not be the lesser of the two morally, if only to prove that everything she'd been told by her mother about her purity of identity and purpose hadn't been a complete lie. 

"This should get you through most doors in Alcamoth," she explained to Melia, "Now I must return and keep watch. Stay safe."

"And you, Tyrea," replied Melia.


End file.
